Maybe so, but Rudy was around at the time and I thought that he had huge input on the deals that were made. Was CD in the Front Office handling the details for what Rudy wanted or was he making completely independent decisions that Rudy had to accept?
First you say Battier is better and then you end your comment by saying that he's just like Shane. Saying Posey didn't do zip until he was on a team with a healthy Wade and Shaq is just factually incorrect. Overall, Posey is a better offensive player than Battier. All Battier can really do is stand in the corner and hope that somebody else creates for him so that he can get a wide-open shot. Posey has better handles, can actually attack the basket, he can finish strong, and is a reliable shooter from 3 pt land. Battier might be a better team defender, but Posey is a better one on one defender. Also, we can look and see who plays better or raises his level in playoffs. We all know what Posey has done (he actually raises his level of play in the playoffs) while Battier has only had one good playoff game his entire career. I believe the advantage goes to Posey.
I'm looking at what Shane has done since joining the Rockets, where he's done just fine in the playoffs. I'm not even counting game 1 this year, where Rafer missed the game and Tracy was a master bricklayer. In 06/07 against the Jazz in that deplorable third game when 3 Rockets scored 61/67 total points, Shane was the 3rd wheel. In game 7 of the same series, he scored 16 points and, again, was the only Rocket to show up besides Tracy and Yao. Shane wasn't the problem in either of his two Rockets playoff series. If you think Posey would have done more, fine. I disagree. I'm not knocking Posey, but he played 22 mins/game in this year's playoffs coming off the bench while Shane was a horse at 41 mins/game against the Jazz. If you gave Shane the exact (and lesser) role that Posey has, Shane would be better at it. On the other hand, if you gave Posey the bigger role and huge minutes required of Shane, he wouldn't be as effective. And I was "factually correct" by saying Posey didn't do zip until he went to Miami. Tell me, what exactly did he accomplish beforehand? He's been fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time and props to him for being a man and coming through. I said at the time the Celts got a huge piece of their puzzle when they signed him. But let's not exaggerate about Posey because of the championship glow. Oh, and he's just like Shane in the sense they fill very similar roles on teams. I didn't mean they are 100% the same player.
Thanks for clarifying your earlier comments, but since you're being selective in only analyzing Battier since he's been a Rocket, why then say Posey "didn't do zip" until he was playing with the Heat? Why not analyze Posey since he's joined Miami? I can say the same of Battier before he joined the Rockets. Even if you examine Shane's playoff career with Houston, he's only had an actualy impact in one playoff game his entire career. Posey, on the other hand, has impacted many playoff games in much less mins, which helps my argument that he's a better player and ostensibly more efficient. Now since both players are similar in some sense, if you look at their career stats, those are very similar as well. Thus, if you feel Posey didn't do squat before he got to Miami then you should feel the same way about Battier. However, I don't think either is true, because Posey had interest from the Rockets, Grizzlies, and eventually the Heat, so they must've saw something they liked. Also, Battier was traded for Rudy Gay so Houston obviously felt he could help as well. A lot of this isn't Shane's fault, the Rockets have to be blamed for believing that a player like Battier, who's really a role player who should be playing no more than 20-25 mins off the bench (like Posey does), could be a major impact player since they were in "win now" mode. He wasn't worth the 8th pick in the draft. Posey was signed a a free agent. So the Rockets definitely over-valued him and over-paid for him. Now I'm not sure that Posey would've done more if given more mins, but I think it would've been hard for him to do much worse. He is a better offensive player than Battier and his one on one defense is better as well since he's seems stronger and quicker than Shane. Kobe Bryant for example has more problems with Posey than with Battier. Conversely, I don't believe Battier would have been as efficient had he had the same role (less mins off the bench) that Posey has had when he's won his two titles. Shane just doesn't seem to be a guy who can do as much as Posey has done if only given 20-25 mins a game, which is why I think Posey is better. I'm not saying Posey is a much better player than Battier, but I do believe he's a better player than Shane.
I didn't forget Kelvin, his situation was in a different category thanShandon and Mo. Kelvin was already in the Rockets system when he was given his Payday contract. Shandon and Mo came to the Rockets on lowball contracts with expectations of larger contracts in the future. The Rockets kept the Promises and those players weren't worth their new salaries. Overall, those were all poor decisions that I broke them down into different categories. I liked Kelvin the best of the three with Shandon in the middle. I detested Mo.
nissan just recalled my wife's car. but since the rockets didn't manufacture posey, why do we need to recall him? every year you see a role player or 2 on a team or 2 do well in the playoffs. that doesn't mean they will play at the same level all through the next season. recent examples? see bonzi wells and that flopper on the cavs (i forgot his name) from brazil.
Posey with Houston was when I first understood the term "contract year". Sometimes he'd force things on offense, but understandably he was trying to showcase himself for a big payday. Otherwise he played hard every game, and kept playing hard even after he got a decent contract.
